Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378
Email: wooda@email.sjsu.edu
Web: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda
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Dr. Andrew Wood Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378 Email: wooda@email.sjsu.edu Web: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda |
When
old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
- John Keats
What is the relationship between the photographic image and notions of beauty or truth? Certain photographs seem to possess a documentary form of truth while others portray beauty that represents little more than the creative imagination of the human mind. Here, our discussion turns to the relationship between the photograph and representation as we compare mimetic and social constructionist approaches toward this form of visual communication. This discussion embeds photographs within a web of cultural assumptions about the comparative veracity of different image types. From this perspective, we begin to explore semiotic analysis as a means to understand the ideological implications of images as constructs for truth and beauty that affirm specific notions of power.
Reading: Chapter One